Lies
by TerraPrime
Summary: The prized creations of MECH, Sam and her brother Raf, have never been in the outside world. Now, as lies are uncovered, they are tossed into the unknown. *Formerly called Nothing, But Lies* *Undergoing MAJOR editing* *Renamed Chapters*
1. Forged

Hey guys. I just did some major edits on the chapter. I really hope you guys like it better than before.

I don't own anything.

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Chapter 1

Forged

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"Here they are, Mrs. Bishop", the doctor said as he handed the two newborn twins to their mother and left.

The hospital room was occupied by four people; the twins, their mother, and father, a tall, muscular man with a scar running down his face.

"What will we name them?", the twin's father, Leland Bishop, asked his wife with a rare smile.

"I was thinking about Rafael for the boy and Sam for the girl." The mother replied with a smile.

"Sam." He tested his firstborn's name out, "Is there any particular reason that you want to name her that? It's not exactly normal for a girl."

"I think that she won't be your average girl." Their mother, Daniela, her smile quickly crinkled in to a frown as two masked men entered the room.

"When do they have their first surgery?" She questioned her husband, a nervous look entering her eyes. He sent her a comforting look.

"Right now, they need to start as soon as possible or they might not survive. Don't worry, sweetheart, they'll be perfectly fine, I have my top men working on this." Leland replied and sent the men a glare that said he wouldn't hesitate to kill someone if anything went wrong.

Daniela watched them leave with her children and felt regret build inside her.

"I hope that I didn't make a mistake when I agreed to this." She muttered and then reminded herself that if this worked her children would be perfect.

**Sam's POV-3 Year, 20 Months Later**

"Hey Raf!" I said when a sudden inspiration struck me, "We should build our own friends! We could integrate them into our implants and link them to the comm. channels. Then we could have our own recon units. Miniature recon..._Minicons_!" We finished the sentence together and laughed. I couldn't wait to tell Mom about our new idea!

I could tell her at combat training! I frowned quietly when I remembered the sneers from our teacher. He had yelled at me a lot and called us worthless, even though we did everything perfect.

When I had asked why he yelled so much, Mom had told me that he treated us differently because we're different from him. She said I was taller, stronger, and smarter than everyone else away. That the implants had made us look older by three or four years. I smile when I remember telling her that I could change. She told me that me and Raf were miracles and never to be ashamed of it.

I had researched the impact of the implants more fully yesterday. We were twice as strong, fast, and smart as an average teenager. Our problem solving capabilities were maximized to their full potential. Almost all known spoken languages had downloaded into the brain implants, as well as advanced math and computer skills.

"_Come on, let's get started. Sam."_ Raf said through our bond. As far as I knew, it had been there since we were born. The funniest thing about it wasn't that we were able to sense each other's emotions, pain, or thoughts. It wasn't that we could see things through each other's eyes. I had read many things about other sets of twins experiencing similar things. It was that the language we spoke didn't exist.

I know every single spoken language on earth and this was not one of them. I never mentioned it to the scientist, who would love an excuse to poke at me, nor my father, who would probably tell the scientist.

I grabbed a blank blueprint and started to draw out a rough sketch of what we wanted and how it would connect to out implants. We had several plug-in area's that were attached to our spines, which connected to our nerves and similarly our brains. They would be able to be stored there, functioning as part-time armor plating. This was a big project and would take probably take more than a month to complete, best to get started now.

**Five Weeks Later**

**_Download Complete_**

**_Primary System Power At 95% Charge_**

**_Rebooting Systems_ **

I powered up my eyes and quickly unplugged myself from computer. My dad had told me that as a result of 42% of my body being mechanical I had to recharge myself every time I went to bed.

I had recently designed a newer updated version of our programing and working out bugs. I had just fixed the comm., which has been down all week. Raf and I were hoping if we installed the 'Minicons' into our main systems, they would link to our bond. It would be helpful if we had a more secure way to contact them then a comm. channel.

While I was recharging, I had taken the time to multitask and downloaded the AI program into my systems. The programing would remain dormant until the actually bodies were activated. We had received the parts back. We had sent the designs for the actual parts to be forged a week ago and I had busied myself with improving the coding and working on side projects all week.

I smiled as I saw the completed bodies lying on our shared work tables. They were small, foxlike creatures, complete with fur, which was actually going to be used to sense subtle changes in the air around it.

I walked over to the computer and checked the download progress. It was at 78% and would take a little over three hours for it to complete. Raf would wake up soon, and I couldn't wait to surprise Raf. It had been almost impossible to keep him from remembering our birthday and schedule the activation for today.

I sent a message to my father via our computer and left the room. I was walking to my dad's office. As I walked I noticed that some of the masked soldiers were staring at me. I knew that many of them disliked me and my twin just like our combat instructor. I was able to ignore it, but the ones that didn't hate us all treated us like children. I hated it more than anything else in the world.

Only one of the soldiers recognized that we were more than your average three-year-olds. Her name was Mara and she was one of the scientists that help with my upgrades. She and my mother were very close friends and she spoke to me as if I was any other adult and I loved her for that.

What I didn't understand about her was why she seemed saddened every time she saw me or Raf. I had asked once, but she hadn't answered. If she had, she would have to answer honestly or I would know. I knew when people lied; it was part of my programming. My brain stored data about the people I'm around and eventually find out their personal lying quirk, like an eye twitch or weight shift.

I stopped at my room and grabbed a small device that recorded conversations when a preprogrammed key-word was heard. In this case there was a few key words; Sam, Rafael (my father never called him Raf.), Birthday, twins, and party. Dad had tried to surprise us for three years now, failing every time. He had unknowingly sent out a challenge that would probably last our entire life. This would start recording if any party plans were mentioned.

I walked a few doors down and knocked. "Come in." my father's voice called, he sounded stiff and angry. I opened the door and the scowl on my dad's face dissolved instantly when he saw me walk in.

"Daddy!" I laughed as I ran over and hugged him, "I just finished a major software update! The Project will be officially completed in three hours! Raf is still downloading the symbiotic programs, though." I wrung my hand behind my back and bounced on my toes. "So, I thought I would stop by and see how you're doing today and if we'll be doing anything later." I rushed through the last part. He smiled knowingly at me. He was planning something; that was Dad's planning face.

"Am I finally going to learn your big secret tonight?" He questioned, "This is the longest you've ever worked on a project before." I nodded playfully, flashing him an impish smile.

It was true, even projects that might have taken years to finish for some of the scientists were done in under a week for us.

I frowned slightly when I noticed that he was talking like I had done all the work. I didn't understand why he talked as if I was the greatest person in the world and only barely acknowledged Raf's presence. I had asked mom about it once and she told me that he loved us equally ,but then he explained that it had to do with some of my coding. Since I was born first, even if Raf had been born a short amount of time after, our programing accepted me as the dominant.

Mom wouldn't explain exactly what it meant, but she told me not to worry about it.

So, from what I had gathered from mom, was that Dad loved me more because I was less then a minute older. I thought that was unfair and didn't really understand how it worked. I shook myself from my own, darker thoughts and gave Dad another smile. I hugged him again and then while he was distracted I planted the bug under the desk.

"Happy fourth birthday, sweetheart.", He said gently and squeezed my hand, "I love you." Looking back on it, I wonder if he meant it, or if I had just missed the slight buzzing of my lie detector.

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Cliffhanger! Well, sort of, kind of, maybe.

The first few Chapters are mostly time jumps until they are 12 years old.


	2. Top Of This World

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime.

_"Bond Speech"_

**:Comm. Speech:**

"Normal Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

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Lies

Chapter 2

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Raf had woken up a few minutes ago and we were ready to activate our creations. He still hadn't realized it was our birthday yet, but he would soon.

We had already set their first objective: name themselves. This would test the AI programming for any bugs, considering that it was a very complex, personal choice. "_You ready, Raf?" _I used our bond to gain his attention. No matter what I could always get him to listen when I spoke like that.

"_As I'll ever be."_

We positioned our fingers over our separate activation keys. We had decided that we would activate at around the same time that we were born: three minutes after noon. The clock hit three past noon and I hit the key. I watched their optical receptors power up and the one that was closest to me immediately jumped up onto my shoulder and then proceeded to climb onto my head.

I laughed as it settled in my hair, "This one is definitely mine."

I looked over and saw the other perched on my brother's shoulder, nibbling at his ear. Raf was beaming and trying to hold in laughter.

_"Hi. I'm Sam and he's Raf. We created you." _I greeted them cautiously, suddenly feeling the need for my creations to approve of me and the anxious hope that they would be connected through our bond. They both snapped to attention and I nodded to Raf_._

They both immediately moved and shifted to connect with the metal that was visible on our backs.

I laughed as a tickle passed through me as my systems accepted the new anomaly.

"Hello Creator. I have received and completed my first mission." An calm, young voice rang in my head, tinged with the metallic sound that only came from robots. "I think that the name Terra Byte would be nice." The AI's voice was suddenly shy and expressed a great deal of insecurity. I gave the personality coding a mental A+. I grabbed a notebook and jotted down some notes about the test.

It was like she was unsure if I would approve. There was a sudden rush of pride for our creations. I made a note to adjust the coding so her simulated self-confidence would increase every time she made a good decision. Any hesitation in a spying mission could mean getting caught._ "That's a perfect name!" _I thought to her and she perked up. I looked at Raf and saw he had a giddy look on his face.

"Download has chosen his new name." Raf said, "Did your choose a name?" I nodded and smiled my approval at the newly named Minicons.

"Terra Byte" I responded

"Cool!"

"Let's go show, dad!"

"Good idea." He said, his energetic attitude suddenly disappearing. I was slightly worried, but I dismissed it for the moment and ran out. He followed after; Download perched on his shoulder and Terra still resting in my hair.

**4 Years Later**

I picked up my book and began to read through the story again. I smiled as new ideas sparked into existence and I saved them into a file.

I loved the stories about the ancient Greek genius named Daedalus who built an impossible maze that sent all who tried to navigate it insane. The only way that they would succeed passing through his impossible maze was to possess an enchanted string.

We had just finished designs for our own labyrinth. It was a box that was 30 cubic feet and the walls would shift to make it seem endless, giving new paths or stairs. Unless you had an access code, you would either die from starvation or get lucky and the box would let you out the way you came.

My brother and I had stopped the project because of its cruelty and stored it away in a large file of projects that were either too dangerous, boring, or would take too many of our resources. It had over 60 completed blueprints that would have required too much time to build.

My brother was constantly working on improving the tech in our labs, which had been in major need of an upgrade. He had already changed all our screens to touch screens and they only responded to our finger prints.

That was the only difference between me and my brother. My brother based his learning on how to hack into and creating more advanced tech off of old pieces of technology. On the other hand, I looked to other sources for ideas, such as myths and legends. I also got ideas inspired by animals and their unique adaptions: poisons, parasites, bioluminescence, and many kinds of natural weaponry.

I had been inspired the first time I ever watched a nature documentary. I've never seen an animal in person except for Download and Terra who were made of metal and even they were modeled off of 3D images we made after observing some videos. Well, I had seen some insects and spiders around, but that wasn't the same.

I turned the page in my book as Terra leapt onto my head and took her usual place in my hair.

The moment I saw the title of the story I dropped the book and sat bolt upright and yelled as loud as I could through our bond "_Raf, come to our lab now we have work to do!"_

I felt shock and slight annoyance coming from his side of our bond, he must have been recharging. He got dizzy if he recharged while moving around.

"_It's two in the morning and your still up. I thought I told you not to stay up this late!"_ I laughed as his tired and angry voice filled my head.

"_Relax Raf. I'm plugged in."_ I shifted my neck a bit when I mentioned the cord attached to the back of my neck. It made it almost impossible to rest my head.

_"Not good enough. Draining your power while charging it just keeps your power at a steady level." _I sighed. Why did he always have to be right?

He had gotten way to protective of me since I had gotten beat up by one of the new soldiers for breaking his foot. The poor guy hadn't been seen since I told my dad what he did. I feel bad about it now, he hasn't know who or what I was at the time. I hope he just got reassigned, instead of fired. I didn't get too badly hurt because of the metal under my skin.

"_I was reading and that's why you need to come here _**now**_. I have a steady charge of 25%. Even if I stopped recharging, I could go for another 6 hours."_ I knew that he going to give in when I felt the emotions change from anger, concern, and annoyance to acceptance. "

_"25% power is enough to run for six hours on limited functions." _He jabbed back,_ "I'll be right down. This better be good."_ Slight amusement flickered in the bond before he closed it off so I would pester him.

Terra shifted and jumped down to my book of mythology. Scanning the page I had left open, her optics lingered on the title of the story I had been reading.

_The Wings of Icarus_

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*They've had more metal implants over the years so the metal percentage of their bodies has gone up.

Descriptions:

Terra Byte and Download have 2 forms: Laptop and Fox-Lemur mix and are light brown in both forms. They are intelligent, but their behavior coding means that they act like animals.

Raf looks basically the same except he is taller and doesn't have glasses. He has the same hairstyle and hair color. His eyes are electric blue with flecks of purple and have the same properties listed below. He feels a strong need to protect his sister and his main skills are computer hacking and engineering. More physically mature.

Sam has brown hair and electric blue eyes with flecks of deep purple and gold. Her eyes change color with her emotions. Purple for anger or hatred, gold for extreme emotions other than hate or anger and regular everyday emotions she had electric blue eyes with gold and purple specks. She is tall for her age and is slightly older than her brother although he is more physically mature and seems older.


	3. Truths

This chapter has now been subjected to a major update to make Sam a bit less Mary Sue. I have decided that if I want a character to fly, I'll have to write a Maximum Ride fanfic.

**_LIE DETECTOR_**

_"Bond Speak"_

_'Thoughts'_

"Normal"

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Lies

Chapter 3

Truth

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**3 years later**

Growling as I rolled over so I wouldn't crush my wings. I could no longer lay on my back without my wings spread out, which was a huge pain. They had absolutely no positives.

The wings were a failed experiment. Even with the multiple operations to make me lighter, I was too heavy to fly. Now all I had to show for was a huge pair of mechanical wings mounted on my back. They had fused permanently with my systems and any attempt to remove them would be extremely painful. I could fold them against my back, but holding them in that position for too long became uncomfortable and sometimes painful.

I also had another set of data that was supposed to help me learn how to fly, but all it did now was give me claustrophobia and flare my wings when someone startled me.

Raphael was lucky, as he had refused the wings. He was afraid of heights, a fact that I would have constantly teased him about if the wings had worked.

Raf didn't tease me about the wings, probably because it wasn't the first time a glitch had caused a permanent change.

Last year, Father had required us to get routine updates of our language programing and there was a glitch in the program that gave Raf a permanent accent. If we tried to get to the problem, it could collapse his language systems and make it impossible to redownload anything.

It was getting close to our birthday again. Father had stopped trying to surprise us after last year, when we had approached him about it two weeks early. We always had a short celebration and mom got us presents and brought cake. We were turning eleven soon though we looked about 15. We had begun to get a little more respect from some of the other men, but not all of them were very friendly. Not like Mara was.

Father had increased our training time by an hour more each day. The Minicons were also required to be training with us. I didn't understand why I needed to know how to fight, but father said that it helped with the research on our upgrades.

It might have just been one of the bugs that came with the faulty wings, but I felt trapped here. I had never been outside these walls except for the occasional forest training mission. Whenever we trained, we were confined to a training room; 'The Cage' as it had been nicknamed by the Minicons.

It was really a large warehouse, but there were only two doors. A large aircraft hangar sized door and the door that lead to a hallway from which I could go to Dad's office, our room, or the lab. There were various locked doors along the way that I could have easily opened if I had wanted to, but father had told me not to open them.

It was again nearing our birthday. Mom would bring cake and presents for us and the Minicons and Dad would hug me and I would glare a little. He would pretend not to notice that, though. Then, it would go back to normal and we would train and I would stretch my wings for a bit.

After that, we would turn out the lights and gaze upon the star mural on the roof. I had painted that only a month or two ago and it only appeared in the dark. It wasn't those crummy five-pointed things people called stars, either. It was a full blown image of the Orion Nebula on one side and the Andromeda. Although, the proportions and distances were a little off it was still beautiful, but I'm a little biased considering I'm the artist. It was a cool way to spend the night.

Like I said, I had never spent too much time outside the base. Meaning, I had never slept underneath the stars. The mural was the closest I had ever gotten to that. Raf and I had agreed that on the day after our eleventh birthday we would sneak out. That was about two weeks from now.

I was so excited; at least, I was when we first planned it. Now I was getting nervous. I knew that if Dad found out he would have a fit and he would take it out on Raf.

I had tried to sneak out once when we were nine and I was caught by Dad. He hadn't been to angry with me, but he told me go to bed and never go out with his permission again. The next morning he had called Raf to his office. I hadn't made the connection until I felt the fear radiating off Raf through our bond.

I had run as fast as I could to Dad's office and heard the yelling. Dad thought that it was Raf's fault I had tried to sneak out.

I had run in there just in time. Dad looked like he was about to hit my twin and Raf looked as though he already had been struck. When I had barged in Dad had frozen. I don't remember what I said; well, roared was a better description, but it probably for the best. When I had regained most of my wits, I had grabbed my brother and taken him back to our room. I had looked the door and triple encoded the electronic lock, bolted the door, blocked my comm., turned off my two-way radio and stayed with my brother in that room for 2 weeks.

I haven't trusted my dad since. Dad didn't know about our bond and now he never will. It was our secret and I will never tell anyone, especially not Dad. Not after what he had done. I now take care never to leave our father and Raf in the same room alone.

I remember when he finally got the door open, not by hacking the lock, but blowing up the door. I had yelled at him for breaking down the door.

He had said he wasn't angry with me. **_TRUTH_**. He also told me that he wasn't mad at Raf either. **_LIE_**_._ It was just another reason to hate him.

I began to paint after that. I made new kinds of paint and listened to music off the internet. Dad pretended he still loved us. Mom and Mara visited us every day. Speaking of...a soft knock on my door roused me from my thoughts of recent events. Raf and I had been laying, head to head, in the center of the floor next to fake fire-place in our room.

Our "room" had improved from a simple bedroom to five room area with a fully stocked kitchen (I don't cook, that's Raf's specialty. He cooked all our meals now and he was a brilliant cook), a bedroom with two beds, a desk, a computer; a living room with a fireplace/heater thingy, a laundry room, and a lab. I jumped up and opened the door. Mom and Mara were here! I checked my internal clock. 10:00pm. Wow, I must have dozed off sometime during my think session.

"Mara! Mom!" I said as I jumped into Mom's arms and Raf got up and hugged Mara. We switched people and we started to say. "We missed you. I..."

"Hush, Sam. We need to leave now." Mom cut me off, "You're father has gone too far." I was confused, but I kept quiet and waited for her to explain. She didn't.

"Mara will take you two somewhere safe." I was about to ask _'But what about you?_', but she beat me to it.

"I'll be fine, don't worry." She smiled and hugged us. Seeing my confused look she said, "Don't worry, sweetheart. Mara will explain once she gets you out of here."

Me and Raf exchanged identical looks. "Out?" he whispered, making sure I had heard the same thing he had. I nodded.

With that she left the room and Mara sat alone with us and explained what we needed to do.

"Raf, Sam, you need to listen to me now, it has never been more important." She started, "I need you to sneak out of the building with the up most of care. Don't let anyone see you leave, okay. You'll need to disable the security cameras. There is a black van waiting outside. Get in the trunk of the car and cover yourselves up with some of the supplies." She frowned wearily and then suddenly smiled and added, "Field trip."

I felt my eyes light up when she said that. I remember when she told us about the outside world. She had told us about field trips too. I'd always wanted to go on a field trip. I felt a flare of similar excitement, tinged with the same worry and caution as earlier.

Mara left us quickly, telling us to wait a bit before leaving. I wondered briefly if this was just a test to see how well we had been trained. I shared my idea with Raf and he nodded, but didn't respond.

Terra responded without an order and folded onto my back. Raf did the same with Download and we dashed out of the room. We were remotely linked to the base, so deactivating the cameras was child's play, as well as hacking the locks. All the training helped me avoid the guards. We got out of there in five minutes flat. We saw the black van parked out front and leapt into in. The back was filled with various things like weapons, clothes, food, and blankets.

Mara arrived 30 minutes later. I knew why, if it was supposed to be a successful escape she couldn't leave at the same time we did or it would be suspicious. I knew that it was a real escape by now. If it had been a test the guards would have been told to watch for us. I saw one or two of them dozing off. She drove forward and passed a security check. Me and Raf didn't even breath when he opened the trunk to check what was there. Fortunately for us, he didn't want to dig through all the stuff in the back.

We drove on and Mara called out, "You can come out now." We did. I gave her a look and she said, "I'll explain," I sighed in relief that I didn't have to wait for an explanation. I wasn't ready for what came next.

"Do you know what a terrorist is?" she asked softly keeping her eyes on the road ahead.

"No, I'll look it up." Raf said and the information streamed into our heads. Videos, pictures, and articles about terrorism. When it was done, I was shaking and trying not to cry. Raf had a horrified expression that I was sure mirrored mine. "Why?" I asked not sure if I was asking why it mattered, why I had to see it, or why it even happened.

"You don't know what your father does, do you?" Mara asked and I immediately knew what she was implying, but even with all my knowledge, highly advanced brain, exc. I couldn't understand what she was telling me. I did the next best thing.

**Full Power Down**

As soon as the words flashed across my vision fell back against the seat and the world went dark.

* * *

Another Chapter. Sorry about not updating sooner, but I couldn't use the computer for anything, except homework for a while. Apparently spending every waking minute on the computer isn't good for me.

*They don't need to eat as much as normal people; they can go a very long time without food.

I pushed 2,000 words on one chapter. Yes! The chapters will get longer as the story progresses. I hope. Review.


	4. Crashing Into The Unknown

Hi, another chapter of Nothing, but lies. I got my first review from Crimson6633. Here's a cookie for you. *

Disclaimer: Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro. I only own Sam, the Miniature Recon Units, Sam's mom, and Mira.

There's a poll on my profile page that I would like a few votes on. It will decide which story I will update first.

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Nothing But Lies

Chapter 4

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I woke up screaming in pain. There was fire all around me. Metal shards were digging into my skin and my whole body was on fire. I felt Raf on the other side of the bond. He was screaming, too.

_Where were we?_ I tried to see through his eyes and when I did I found a new version of horror. His face was on fire. He was burning alive. I looked around, but all I could see was crumpled burning metal and... a window. That's right; I was in a car with Mira and Raf. We were running away because- _No, I can't think about that now. I have to save Raf._

I looked to my other side and saw Raf with his face burning. I grabbed his hand and tried to pull him toward the window, which had shattered from the heat. Only to be stopped by his seatbelt.

I frantically ripped his seatbelt off and pulled him forward. The minicons were still attached to our backs so I didn't have to worry about them, but Mira was a different story. I dragged Raf through the broken window and to a safe distance away from the fire before turning and limping back. I needed to find Mira, assuming she was still alive. I got to my bloody knees and prepared to crawl back through the window.

Then, the car exploded. I felt the heat burn my face and the shrapnel pierced my stomach and my shoulder. I was thrown backwards, but not far. "Mira!" I yelled, she was still in there. Warnings flashed across my vision.

**Primary Systems Failing. Counterpart System Failing**

**Action Advised: Full System Shut Down and Self-Repair**

**Accept? Yes or No**

"Y-yes." I managed to croak out. Then, the darkness washed over me and brought me into blissful oblivion.

**Unknown Time. Unknown Place. Mira's P.O.V.**

I had swerved away from the truck so fast I hadn't been able to stop the car from rolling. I had been flung forward through the windshield and landed on the ground. I had heard a sickening snap as my arm had struck the ground. Sharp flashes of pain came if I tried to move my arm. Ignoring this, I got up and ran toward the wreckage of the car. As I got closer I heard screaming, horrible screams of pure agony, coming from the wreckage of the car. I ran forward, but I wasn't fast enough to get there before it exploded.

I heard sirens in the distance. I walked slowly around the wreckage and saw them laying on the ground away from the wreckage. I ran forward and saw that their clothes were on fire. I acted quickly. I pulled off my singed coat, wincing as it slid off my bad arm, and began to put out the fire.

I didn't want to look at their faces in order to assess the damage. The ones I had seen through the years, the only smiles I had seen in all my years of spying on M.E.C.H. I looked anyway and tried not to cry at the horror before me.

Raf's face had almost been entirely burned off. The metal just beneath his skin showing, like a skeleton. I checked his bones. None of them were broken but there were third-degree burns all over his body. Then the metal moved. His face began to shift and the metal expanded outward replacing the burned skin, moving it away, and fading to the same color as the skin had been before, healing over any imperfections or burns. This began to happen all over his body.

I felt relief and horror fill me when I looked over at Sam and saw the same thing happening to her. I was relieved that they were going to be okay.

_'What have they done to these poor children!?' _I couldn't help, but think, despite the fact that it had just saved their lives.

I couldn't help that this had happened to them. I had been assigned to spy on M.E.C.H, not rescue M.E.C.H.'s twisted version of a science project. I had cared for them as best I could and tried to be a friend, but I had no responsibility for them. I heard yelling in the distance and realized that the semi-driver had stopped. He hadn't seen them yet, but he would. Great, now I have to explain how I had managed to drag two unconscious "teenagers" from a burning car wreak and have them come out without any cuts or burns.

By now the only sign they had ever been in the wreck was the burned clothes. I pulled them behind a larger rock and began to limp toward the driver. He was wearing a blue and red plaid shirt and blue jeans. He had black hair and deep, caring blue eyes. He looked relieved that I was alive and then looked concerned when he saw the blood soaking through my shirt sleeve.

"Are you all right? I called 911." His deep voice was as kind as his eyes.

"Yes, I think my arm is broken, but other than that and a few cuts and buns, I'm fine. I don't need to go to a hospital." I said, "I'm going to be fine." I muttered the last bit mostly to myself.

The people at the Pentagon would know if I checked into a hospital. Then, they would want a full report and would probably find out what I had done.

I had mentioned that there was a pair of twins living at the M.E.C.H base and that they didn't know what M.E.C.H.'s true purpose was. I couldn't bring myself to mention who their father was or what M.E.C.H. had done to them. They would become a science experiment all over again. I don't care how much the government says they're different, they'd lock those kids up the second they found out what they were.

"Why would you not need a hospital? You're hurt." The driver was pretty insistent. I heard sirens in the distance and wished I could run. "Look I don't need to go to a hospital, Mr.?"

"Orion.", He answered.

_'Weird name',_ I thought

"You need to go to a hospital." He said and he reached forward to grab the arm that wasn't hurt. I ducked and tried to run, but I tripped and fell landing on my bad arm. I cried out in pain and clutched at my arm, but that only made it hurt worse. I saw the ambulance pull up and the doctors jumped out. One ran over to the truck driver, and the other two ran to my side with a stretcher.

I was lifted onto the stretcher and I tried to protest. I looked over and saw that one of the paramedics had seen the twins. He was yelling and another paramedic jumped out of the truck and ran over. I was pulled into the ambulance and I closed my eyes.

_'This is not good. This is so not good._' I thought as the lack of blood took its toll and I slipped into blissful unconsciousness.

**Raf's P.O.V.**

When I woke up all I saw was a blurry mass like when the computer glitches and the screen goes to random pixels. I freaked out because usually I had excellent vision, even when I've just woken up. I heard voices around me. People commenting about how lucky I was.

Something was missing... Sam! Where was she? I located her through our bond. She was right next to me. I heard her moan as she woke up. Then she freaked out. I heard a fist connect with some unlucky persons face. I looked through her eyes and saw that we were in a vehicle. '_Sam, I can't see. Are you alright? Did they hurt you? Where are we? Where's Mira?' _I belted out question after question as my brain malfunctioned.

_'I'm fine. I activated our self-repair systems. I didn't even know that we had those. I think wer in a.. what's it called... Anna balance or something like that. I woke up and they were trying to cut my shirt off. I think they were trying to see my wings. I don't know where we are or where Mira is. Why can't you see? Did you run a self-diagnostic? I think Mira might be in the other, um, thingy. I knocked out the people who were trying to see my wings. There are more people up front, though.'_

I kind of tuned her out after she answered my questions. She had a thing for blubbering on when she was scared. I ran a self-diagnostic as I reached out and tried to grab blindly at her hand. She reached out and held it. The information flashed clearly across my blurry vision, at least that part of my vision worked.

**Major Damage To Primary Systems Has Been Repaired**

**All Damage To Counterpart Systems Has Been Repaired**

**Optical Sensors Were Unable To Be Repaired Without Manual Action**

**Miniature Recon. Unit#1/Download Is Undamaged But Requires Recharge Period Of Two To Five Weeks**

**Miniature Recon. Unit#1/Download's Counterpart, Miniature Recon. Unit#2/Terra-Byte Is Undamaged But Requires Recharge Period Of Tw**o** To Five Weeks**

**Main Systems Fully Functional **

**Power: 34%**

**Metal Ratio: 84% **Wait, What! The last time I checked I was only like 63% metal!

"Sam, I ran a diagnostic. It says I'll need to do a manual repair on my eyes. Did yours..."

"Yup. I'm now 84% metal. The metal we had is spread out, because we lost most of our human parts in the crash. I've checked, we also assimilated some metal from the car wreck. I'm more machine then I am human." Sam said and I could tell she was upset.

She had gone into shutdown after she had heard about dad. I had listened as Mira told me her story. She was a government spy and she was supposed to be spying on M.E.C.H., but over the years she had become friends with our mom and mom had found out Mira's secret.

Mom had asked Mira to protect us. So, she was taking us to a small remote town in the middle of nowhere. We were supposed to go to school and pretend to be normal teenagers. Even if we were almost 10. I looked about 14 or 15 and she looked 13 or 14. I researched school and found out about what happened there and how it all worked in a matter of seconds. It all seemed rather terrible.

Mira had told me to get some recharge and that she would explain more when I woke up.

She hadn't had the chance. I had woken up in unbearable pain. I had felt the way my skin burned, I had felt the way Sam had dragged me form the burning wreckage even when she herself was in pain. I should have been proud of my 'baby' sister, but instead I felt anger. _'What was she thinking?!'_

After I had passed out she must have activated this 'self-repair system'. I was worried about the fact that she wasn't aware of this program. We knew all the software in our systems like the back of our hands, having programed most of them ourselves, but this one seemed to have created itself. I would have to think about that later.

I felt the vehicle pull to a stop and Sam's grip on my hand tensed as she readied herself for a fight. I realized that despite all our training she had never actually hurt anyone besides knocking them unconscious.

I could fight because I had heat sensors that would tell me where people were, but that wouldn't help if they had weapons. I heard the doors on the back open and she lunged forward. I heard a panicked yelp and a punch land home. Then a prick of pain came from her and I felt her grasp on consciousness slip.

"Sam! What happened! Are you okay?" I knew she couldn't hear me. I felt my way toward her heat signature which was surrounded by several others. I stumbled and fell from the vehicle. I winced as I collided with the ground and received a scrape on my cheek.

I reached out and checked her pulse. Our pulses went twice as fast as a normal human being because of the metal implants in our hearts. Her pulse was fine. I tried to look at the other people who were surrounding us. They hadn't attacked me so I didn't think they were going to hurt me now. I heard whispers and I tuned in to them.

"He's blind... I believe they're related...They seem fine..." and so on. Finally, I 'saw' one of them lean down next to me. The person was a girl. I could tell from her body size.

"Hi, my name is Lauren Batcher. Can you see? Is this your sister? How old are you?" she asked gently, as kind as she was, I was still paranoid about 'nice' people. I had known that my dad wasn't a good man and I hadn't been the least bit surprised when I was told that he was a terrorist. He had always treated Sam better because she was oldest.

I had worried about her for the longest time and was almost relieved when she walked in on Dad yelling at me. The news would have hit her a lot harder if she hadn't known about Dad's other side. She was still all fun and games, when it came to her attitude toward the world and so was I, but not when it came to her. I would protect her with my life no matter what she said about not needing anyone to protect her.

"I'm blind, and no. She's my best friend and cousin. I'm 15 and she's 14." I hoped my lie would be convincing. I couldn't see her face and my lie detecting systems wouldn't work without a visual, so I wouldn't know whether or not she was leading to a trap.

"Her mom and my aunt was taking us on a trip and we crashed. My aunt's name is Mira. Is she okay?" I cursed myself for such a lame lie, but Lauren said, "I think I know where your aunt is. she was in the other ambulance. She has a broken arm, a concussion, mild blood loss, and some 2nd degree burns. Other than that she's fine. Would you like to, uh, see her? No offense. Your cousin will come around in few minutes. We gave her a shot when she attacked us."

"None taken. I'd love to, um, 'see' her. Sorry about my cousin. She freaked out when she woke up and attacked the people. She's a good fighter." Wow, I think that's the first sentence I've said so far that hasn't been a complete lie.

Considering that the only people I've ever met have been terrorists, a government spy, and my mom; I was doing pretty well in my first conversation with a normal human. I saw her heat signature move away and I took that as a signal to follow. I picked up my twin effortlessly as I began to follow.

"Can you leave your cousin here? We need to examine her." I heard one of the people protest.

"She knocked out three of your guys. I think she'll be fine."

I heard Lauren laugh and then she said, "Do you need help carrying her? She has to be heavy."

"No, I'm stronger than I look." It was true, I didn't look like much. I didn't have huge muscles and I wasn't as tall as a '14-year-old' should have been, but they had upgraded Sam's body so she would be able to fly. She was lighter than 80 pounds, even with the metal bones and implants.

I followed her through a set of doors and then lost her in a sea of other heat signatures. I panicked. I had never been around so many people before. There were people randomly milling about, running around, and rushing people around on beds. I knew that it was a medical facility. I had guessed that when Lauren was listing off Mira's injury.

I felt someone grab my put their hand on my shoulder. "This way." Lauren. I let her lead me to a separate area of the facility where it was less busy. "First time in a hospital?" I quickly searched the term and found out that a hospital was an emergency medical facility. That must be what this building was. I wondered what it looked like.

"No." I lied quickly, "My eyes." I hoped that it was the right answer. I could feel her nodding, via the slight vibrations in the air. I was about to respond when she quickly said, "Yes, your eyes." If I hadn't been carrying my sister, I would have collapsed with relief when I realized that I had nearly revealed that I wasn't entirely 'blind'.

I began to navigate by the sound of her footsteps alone because almost everything else in the hall radiated heat and I kept bumping into things. Finally she came to a stop and I heard the click of a door opening.

"Raf! Are you alright? What happened to Sam?" I was greeted by Mira's panicked voice as I entered the room. "Put your cousin on the bed and then you can, um, 'see' your aunt." Lauren said and she lead me over to a bed and I set Sam down, "No offense."

"Again, none taken." I said smoothly, as if I were used to being blind.

The second I set Sam down I was pulled into a firm one-armed hug. "Aunt?" Mira whispered questioningly into my ear.

"Yeah, just play along. Sam is your daughter, I'm your nephew, and she's one year younger than me." I whispered back I was about to pull away when I remembered something important, "Oh yeah and I'm blind at the moment." I chuckled as I imagined her shocked expression.

"Sam's alright, Aunt Mira. They had to knock her out. She freaked out when she woke up and began to attack the doctors." I said louder, "This is Lauren..."

"Dr. Batcher to you, young man." Oops, I had forgotten about the 'Kids are only supposed to call adults by their last names' thing. Um, yeah. "Sorry, Dr. Batcher."

"Your daughter is going to be fine, Mrs. Mira. In the meantime, you have a visitor, a Mr. Fowler." I heard Mira groan.

Sam shifted and I walked over to her. "_Easy, Sam." _I whispered through the bond as I helped her sit up, I quickly briefed her on my discoveries over the past few minutes.

A minute later, I heard the door slam open and a man's voice, "Doctor, may I please talk to Mira in private. I'm a good friend of her husband."

I heard footsteps and the moment the door clicked shut the yelling started, "Agent Thomas! What are you doing. You're supposed to be spying on that terrorist group, whatever it's called. Oh, you brought the children, too. Directly after we told you not to!" His voice calmed down a little. "I'm glad that you did though."

"_He's 6 feet tall, dark skin, grossly over-weight, black hair, and he has a ridiculously short tie. His weight shifts slightly to the right when he lies. He wasn't lying when he said that he was glad that she saved us from Dad." _I listened to her commentary on this Mr. Fowler. I didn't need it.

I had already hacked into the pentagon and found out everything about this Fowler. I found out that he was a liaison to a super top-secret project. I didn't bother with that, despite my intense curiosity. I got pictures and all his personal info. He was 42, a major patriot, unmarried, he used to be a BlackOp, and had a recently renewed pilot's license.

I tuned back into the conversation that Fowler and Mira were having.

"...can't have any contact with their mother. They'll need to be given to an adoptive family and go to school. I know a place where they can live, it's even more remote than the place you've chosen. I'll get them into a family there." Agent Fowler was saying.

"Where is this town exactly?"

"Jasper, Nevada"

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Hey. I just did a major edit on this, and I will start with the other chapters soon. Feel free to review.


	5. Easing Burdens

Hi, another new chapter.

Thanks to the people who have reviewed me.

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Chapter 5

Feet On The Ground

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**Raf's POV**

Agent Fowler had gotten Mara checked-out of the hospital almost right away.

He was driving us to this 'Jasper'. Along the way he was on the phone with his superiors, explaining our current situation and making plans to get us into a foster family in Jasper.

I understood why Mara was reluctant to tell Fowler about what our father did and she obviously hadn't told him about the sight issues because it would be too hard to explain when Sam figured out how to fix my sight.

She had convinced Fowler to stop at a hardware store for 'snacks' and had given Mara a list of everything that she needed.

She was now tinkering around with some parts for a pair of 'glasses' that would sync with my systems and allow me to see while they were on. She had told me that she would probably be done by the time we reached Jasper.

Apparently, Fowler wanted us to stay with the Esquivel family for a few years to make sure our parents didn't find us. I had started to protest when Mara hit my leg in warning. Wasn't Mom supposed to meet us in Jasper? Why wasn't Mara letting me mention her?

I relaxed slightly when I realized that this was Mara. There was probably a good reason for her wanting Mom kept out of this.

For me and Sam, sleep was a luxury that we never had time for. Recharge wasn't the same as actually sleeping, even though it let us keep our energy throughout the night. I wasn't sure if Sam was just stubborn or if she wasn't effected by recharging while moving around, but it made me nauseous.

I closed my unseeing eyes and let the waves of exhaustion wash over me.

**Later**

I woke up and looked around curiously. We were in a gas station, refueling our van. I spotted Mara and Fowler inside the shop buying supplies. I looked to my left and saw Sam looking at me and she was holding her mouth trying not to laugh.

"What's so funny!? Did you draw something on my face?" I did a quick sensor scan of my face and there were no foreign substances, like markers or paint. I just stared at her for a while and she giggled. It was good to see her laugh, but it was really annoying when I didn't know why she was laughing.

"Sometimes, it's hard to believe you're smarter than everyone else on the planet." She laughed then held up a hand, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Oh. I brought my fingers to my face and traced the frame of the newly made glasses. I ran my fingers down behind my ears and felt where the back of the frame clicked into my head.

"They're amazing. Thank you." Even as I thanked her I felt my face turn bright red.

She just laughed at beamed at me. I smiled back at her. I was afraid that she would have a hard time getting over dad, but she seemed fine.

Agent Fowler and Mara came back and we started driving again. I looked out the window and watched the landscape pass by. Agent Fowler asked us questions about our family and I tried to stick to the truth as much as possible. He didn't really talk to Sam because he must have assumed that I was the eldest.

When he was done questioning me, I looked out the window and sighed. If we were going to stay with a normal family then a lot of things were going to have to change.

I glanced at Sam and let my eyes travel to her back where a slight bulge in her shirt gave evidence of her useless, but obvious wings. She turned toward me and I quickly looked away.

Yes, a lot pf things were about to change and I doubt either of us were going to enjoy it.

**Two Weeks Later**

**Sam's P.O.V.**

Raf and I had settled in with the Esquivel family quickly enough. Mara had promised to visit and Fowler sent an agent to make weekly check-ups on us. We also were assigned a therapist, but we usually skipped that.

There were 4 other adopted kids living with us and although we got a lot of attention at first, we eventually settled into a regular routine.

Today was our first day at Jasper High, the local high school. I was really opposed to going to an average school and pretending to be as thick and stupid as everyone else, but Raf said it would be a good social experience.

I was standing in my room, which was incredibly small, but somehow managed to hold me, Raf, ours beds, and a computer desk. I stood in front of the full length mirror which was mounted on our closet door. I was staring at the reflection of my spine. This was one of many, but obvious little things that showed we weren't human.

There were many of these faults, but there were a few that were more obvious: there were plugs on the back of our ears and neck, our vertebrae stuck out of our backs and were completely made of metal, our eyes click off when we sleep, when we are greatly agitated, our voices gain a mechanical twinge.

I ran my fingers over the larger twisted nubs in the center and instantly regretted it. A sharp stab of pain ran through me and I closed my eyes...

***FLASHBACK***

_Raf looked almost regretful as he looked at me. I winced as well, but smiled. We would never be able to keep my wings secret forever._

_I nodded at him and he picked up the wire cutters and welders. I couldn't help it, I flinched away. He murmured another string of apologies to me as he brought the cutters over the first of many sensitive wires._

_"Go quick, okay. I'll close the bond so you won't be distracted." I muttered quickly, more nervous than anything._

_"Okay. Are you sure?" He asked for the millionth time since I had convinced him._

_I nodded and he gave me a shaky smile and cut the first wire. I didn't feel anything at first then..._

_"AAUGH." I screamed at the top of my lungs and all rational thoughts left my head. I kept screaming bloody murder as one wire after the other was snipped. I begged and pleaded with him to stop, but he just kept going._

_He stroked my hair with his free hand and muttered comforting words. I couldn't move, but if I could, I would have thrashed and kicked at him. _

_Finally, finally, my systems offered to heal themselves. I accepted and let myself slip into oblivion._

**Later**

_When I woke up, my back was sore and warnings flashed all over my eyes. I dismissed them all and stood up...or tried to. _

_I lost my balance and immediately fell on my face. Raf was by my side in an instant, helping me sit up. _

_"You can't stand yet, your systems are still recalibrating after the shift in weight." He whispered gently to me._

_"Was it bad?" I asked, not being able to remember most of what happened. That's when I got a good look at his face._

_He had a worn look on his face, dark tear tracks marked his face, and the usual light in his eyes was gone. I winced._

"That bad?" _I said through the bond and he nodded._

_"I went as fast as I could, I swear. Oh Primus, you wouldn't stop screaming..." His hands wiped down his face, "When you stopped, I-I thought you were dead."_

'Primus?' _I thought, but for some reason, It didn't seem abnormal. I was more concerned about Raf anyway._

_"No...I did a system restart and repair." I put a hand in his and squeezed lightly. He squeezed back and gave a small, weak smile. _

_I stood up slowly, getting used to the shift in weight, Raf holding my arm to keep me from falling again. _

_I slowly reached back and touched the area where my wings had been. There was a sharp stab of pain when I touched the newly healed nubs, but I ignored it. I suppose I should have felt sad. Instead, a rush of joy flowed through me at being relieved of the heavy burden._

_"Thank you." I smiled at him and his eyes regained their usual light._

_"We're in this together, right?"_

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I really altered this chapter, instead of a sad, but painless removal of a completely brilliant source of pride, excitement and power. This chapter is a painful, scarring removal of a heavy burden.

Did you like it?


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